Borescope recommendations?

[Slim13]

I’m interested in buying my first borescope. I’m not a gunsmith, but I’d like to monitor my rifles as I clean them. Not a benchrest guy, just a hunter who loves to shoot long range. I’m looking for something that won’t break the bank - I can’t afford $1000 for a Hawkeye. Thoughts?
Thanks!

 

[6MMsteve]

lyman borescope you can use it for lots of things..chk dies,inside cases. ect it will tell you the carbon ring is toooooooooo big....and J&B or Isso is the best cleaner

 

[Dusty Stevens]

If you cant afford a hawkeye get the lyman- altho i recommend against owning one unless you chamber barrels. Do they still sell the hawkeye cheap model in the cardboard box minus hard case for $7-800? Id wait to get that one if you have to save a bit longer

 

[cem]

Buy the Lyman, or what I call rent the Lyman, meaning if it's not up to your needs send it down the road and call any loss and there may not be any, a rental fee.

I've seen some Eastern European and military arsenal limited purpose glass just as I've seen Harbor Freight and such level plumbing inspection cameras and repurposed medical devices. None of them struck worth any price above free or swap useless to me brass or such.

I have a Gradient Hawkeye with additional extra bright lights and one optional 90 degree eyepiece, in fact I have a second basic straight eyepiece unit with mirror sleeved a little bigger OD. But at today's prices I wouldn't buy the kit. Notice that if you do buy Gradient Hawkeye a souped up Mini Maglite can give plenty of light brighter light cheaper than the factory BUT depending on the light there may be more color to the light than the factory Streamlight. Always thought I'd add the camera and interfaces but the prices are going up faster than my interest. At the rate of price inflation saving up may be chasing a moving target.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Buy the Lyman, or what I call rent the Lyman, meaning if it's not up to your needs send it down the road and call any loss and there may not be any, a rental fee.

I've seen some Eastern European and military arsenal limited purpose glass just as I've seen Harbor Freight and such level plumbing inspection cameras and repurposed medical devices. None of them struck worth any price above free or swap useless to me brass or such.

I have a Gradient Hawkeye with additional extra bright lights and one optional 90 degree eyepiece, in fact I have a second basic straight eyepiece unit with mirror sleeved a little bigger OD. But at today's prices I wouldn't buy the kit. Notice that if you do buy Gradient Hawkeye a souped up Mini Maglite can give plenty of light brighter light cheaper than the factory BUT depending on the light there may be more color to the light than the factory Streamlight. Always thought I'd add the camera and interfaces but the prices are going up faster than my interest. At the rate of price inflation saving up may be chasing a moving target.

Mine came with the old school mini mag with regular bulb. That light finally went out and i replaced it with a mini mag lite pro led or some type unit. Its so bright now after i use it for a minute i feel like i looked at a welding arc. Way too bright

 

[Ggmac]

Wait for a used Hawkeye to pop up . They usually go for $350-500 .
The Lyman is a hit or miss . I've seen some nice photos and some lacking in quality from the Lyman

 

[mchees1]

The Lyman should be good enough and way more reasonably priced. The new model that is out has improved resolution greatly over the original model. You can tell by the box. If it doesn't have the blue new and improved info on it then you have the old one. I have a picture of a bore with the original Lyman and the same barrel with the new improved model. I think it has plenty of detail to show you anything you need to see in your barrel, chamber, dies, etc. Plus, it comes with a 128 mb memory card so you can take LOTS of pictures then remove the card and transfer them to your computer. Can't do that with a Hawkeye without expensive camera adapter.

 

[Pawnee Bill]

The Lyman is plenty good enough to scare the hell out of you.

 

[jepp2]

Do they still sell the hawkeye cheap model in the cardboard box minus hard case for $7-800?

$556 at Brunos currently out of stock: https://www.brunoshooters.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=19661

 

[Ggmac]

The Lyman should be good enough and way more reasonably priced. The new model that is out has improved resolution greatly over the original model. You can tell by the box. If it doesn't have the blue new and improved info on it then you have the old one. I have a picture of a bore with the original Lyman and the same barrel with the new improved model. I think it has plenty of detail to show you anything you need to see in your barrel, chamber, dies, etc. Plus, it comes with a 128 mb memory card so you can take LOTS of pictures then remove the card and transfer them to your computer. Can't do that with a Hawkeye without expensive camera adapter.
View attachment 1116583 View attachment 1116584 View attachment 1116585

Nothing new and improved with the resolution of the new Lyman . Reread the box , I thought the same till I called and was told it's improved but they didn't say what was improved , the resolution is the same , unfortunately.

 

[joshb]

The Lyman should be good enough and way more reasonably priced. The new model that is out has improved resolution greatly over the original model. You can tell by the box. If it doesn't have the blue new and improved info on it then you have the old one. I have a picture of a bore with the original Lyman and the same barrel with the new improved model. I think it has plenty of detail to show you anything you need to see in your barrel, chamber, dies, etc. Plus, it comes with a 128 mb memory card so you can take LOTS of pictures then remove the card and transfer them to your computer. Can't do that with a Hawkeye without expensive camera adapter.
View attachment 1116583 View attachment 1116584 View attachment 1116585

Is that one of those new “gator skin” barrels I herd about?
I’ve got an old version Lyman and it works fine enough to keep me from getting a new one.

 

[mike06]

I own this one from Larry Willis works very well. http://www.larrywillis.com/Borescope Barrel Cleaning.html

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I own this one from Larry Willis works very well. http://www.larrywillis.com/Borescope Barrel Cleaning.html

That was my first bore scope. Returned it straight away for a refund. It does not give a 90 degree view of the bore. Worthless if you cant see the condition of the rifling and/or fouling. You will never be able to see the details required to make proper assessments of bores and chambers without a 90 deg view

The Lyman is far superior and more useful than the Larry Willis scope. And the Lyman is $100 cheaper. Win-Win.

 

[waltk]

$556 at Brunos currently out of stock: https://www.brunoshooters.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=19661

This is your answer. Buy once cry once.

 

[group therapy]

This is your answer. Buy once cry once.

agreed. if you decide to sell it later you will probably get ALL your $ back

 

[mchees1]

Nothing new and improved with the resolution of the new Lyman . Reread the box , I thought the same till I called and was told it's improved but they didn't say what was improved , the resolution is the same , unfortunately.

The quality of the image on the new model is much better. I saw a post a few weeks ago explaining the picture resolution may be the same but the method of how the picture is displayed and stored is much better with the new model so the images are much better (couldn't find it again but I didn't search real hard either). Sort of like compressing a digital image - quality is lost as more compression takes place. After I read that post and saw his pictures, I bought the new Lyman. So I have both models and I can assure you the new model is much more detailed. You can think of it this way: I can buy a $100 scope that specs at 8-32x50 and I can buy a $4000 scope that specs at 8-32x50. On the surface they seem to have the same specs but the image quality will be much different. Same with the Lyman - the resolution specs may appear to be the same but the image most certainly will not be the same. Try one and see or just check out some of the pictures that have been posted with the new Lyman.

Update - found the post from newbieshooter that explained the improved quality: original images were 320x240 @ 72dpi & 1.625 compressed bits/pixel and the new model is 320x240 @ 96dpi & no compression. The higher dpi and no compression makes a big difference in what you see.

 

[Ggmac]

The quality of the image on the new model is much better. I saw a post a few weeks ago explaining the picture resolution may be the same but the method of how the picture is displayed and stored is much better with the new model so the images are much better (couldn't find it again but I didn't search real hard either). Sort of like compressing a digital image - quality is lost as more compression takes place. After I read that post and saw his pictures, I bought the new Lyman. So I have both models and I can assure you the new model is much more detailed. You can think of it this way: I can buy a $100 scope that specs at 8-32x50 and I can buy a $4000 scope that specs at 8-32x50. On the surface they seem to have the same specs but the image quality will be much different. Same with the Lyman - the resolution specs may appear to be the same but the image most certainly will not be the same. Try one and see or just check out some of the pictures that have been posted with the new Lyman.

Update - found the post from newbieshooter that explained the improved quality: original images were 320x240 @ 72dpi & 1.625 compressed bits/pixel and the new model is 320x240 @ 96dpi & no compression. The higher dpi and no compression makes a big difference in what you see.

Thank you ! I wish the Lyman company could of explained it as well when I called .

 

[Ledd Slinger]

The thing that annoys me with the Lyman is they kept the same model and part number with the Improved scope. Many retailers still show the original box in the sales ad without the blue badge that indicates it's the Improved version.

Although I have no issues with the original version, I thought about getting the Improved version. Unfortunately a person has no idea if they are getting the Improved version until it shows up and you can see if it has the blue badge or not.

I assume all the Lyman scopes being sold now are the Improved version, but theres really no way to be sure if you are getting the Improved model or a new old stock original scope.

 

[jepp2]

I assume all the Lyman scopes being sold now are the Improved version, but theres really no way to be sure if you are getting the Improved model or a new old stock original scope.

So I email MidSouth Shooter Supply this morning. They have a good price ($199.99) and are listed in the Bulletin today as one of the deals. Here is there response:

 

[Ledd Slinger]

So I email MidSouth Shooter Supply this morning. They have a good price ($199.99) and are listed in the Bulletin today as one of the deals. Here is there response:
View attachment 1116808

Nice. Thanks for that. I had called a couple places in the past with the same question when the Improved version first came out but couldnt get a straight answer (cant recall which places I called...). Even called Lyman and they had no explanation. Lyman didn't even mention being able to identify the new version with the blue badge. Wasnt until a while later where a member on here enlightened me about the blue badge as a clear identifying mark to look for.